Sacred Man : Sacred Woman

"It wasn’t really just about men and women, it was about life, loving the earth, offering something back, being grateful and going beyond what I wanted and what I thought I needed for myself"

Sacred Man : Sacred Woman, is:

A way to heal the wounded houses of our longing,A way to learn at the deep end what the power and play of ritual can be,A way back to the old wisdom of women’s and men’s sacred lodges,A way to strut and sway with pride without apology beyond fear or shame,And a way to keep the sun and moon wheeling in the ecstatic sky!

We invite you to come and learn this ancient art of living at our annual summer ceremony. No experience is needed. Come alone or with your partner and renew life, yourself and your relationships. You’ll be someone else at the end!

You may feel ok as a man or as a woman and you and your relationships may be doing fine, but in this culture some part of you is likely to be aching with loneliness, knowing you have never been seen, part of you never addressed in the way your ancient heart has waited for.

Has she ever been really seen? Has she heard the praise that her soul aches for?Has he honoured his adventure? Or has he betrayed himself`? Was his endeavour ever exalted?

Come away to this ancient fire,Where the deepest soul of woman can be courted and praised, as is so long overdue,Where he can find his healing, which he so badly needs, where his adventure can be blessed,Where the Holy One can move freely in the gestures, songs and dances of men and women bound in fellowship.Free yourself in this beautiful playful dance of polarity - which is delicious, deeply rooted and forever new.

It can’t really be described; it has to be experienced; you'll know if you take up the invitation.

Men's Lodge and ritual steering Shivam.Women's Lodge: [female presence tbc] with all honour to the decades of tradition held by Erika and Paloma.​Join us and be part of this mirth.

Practicalities

Please note, the men and women will be separated into separate lodges on the Friday. The men and women will be re-united again on the Sunday night. You are welcome to bring a tent to sleep in on the Thursday and Sunday nights but will be expected to stay with the rest of the men/women in their respective lodges for Friday and Saturday nights.

Booking and Contact for SMSW:

To save your sacred space in the men's or women's lodge, pay a £50 deposit by clicking here. ​The balance can be paid in cash on arrival. Full info will arrive in an email once your deposit has been received.

Contact Shivam on: shivam.spirithorse@gmail.com

A Dervishes’ Song for Sacred Man and Woman:

We live together day by day, this dangerous embrace,this ocean of our longingThese loving kisses with wives and husbands we have never really met.

In the night of delight, full dark and softened in a thousand layers of ritual wrapped,Warm tears flow over the carpet woven with tireless threads of praise words,All stillness, deep hush, our story’s bitterness turns to an elixir,A song like a river flowsA woman’s face glows bright - but not due to the hundred candles.When beauty awakens, amidst intense praise, from her sleep,The universe gets drunk againAnd begins to dance.At dawn the birds carry on the song.Tonight there will be a feast, the faces of men and women will shine, we rest, because the food has already been blessed.

​Quotes from participants:

From women:

“I met me and then I met my beloved”“It changed how I see men; and men and women together forever”“I gave up long ago on men but after Sacred Man Sacred Woman a whole new adventure started, I live with a beautiful husband now, so many deep wounds became a thing of the past forever”

From men:

“I’ve done a lot, and a lot of workshops, a real lot; but this is the tops”“I’ve discovered ritual – I love this!”“It wasn’t really just about men and women, it was about life, loving the earth, offering something back, being grateful and going beyond what I wanted and what I thought I needed for myself”

And they lived happily ever after, which is the only proper way to live.

Our soul is our dream of the other.

GOING FURTHER IN THE GREAT WORK

Our culture pays little tribute to the sacred dimension in the lives of men and women. We have lost the stories, ceremonies and companionship that older cultures considered essential. Peeling back the surface layer, deep within us are places that have retreated in the face of a grey world; holy places that speak and sing and dance when they are spoken to. They can be ritually addressed and made alive in the sacred houses of men and women. Lodges such as these.

At Sacred Man:Sacred Woman you will learn of Men's Lodges, Women's Lodges and deep work we can do together.

“Paint me a picture of the river - and let it flow,It will flow and wash away all difference and love will grow.You have the power to deliver – so let it go”

Sacred Man : Sacred Woman isthe name of a longstanding annual workshop -which is really a big ritual -which is really to say -it is a way beyond personal issues into a world of magical re-connection, renewing life.

"Out beyond ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing,there is a green field.I'll meet you there. When you lie down in that grass,Life is too full to talk about"